Step 1: To generate a few ideas for your paper, ask questions about the text:
1. How has the main character changed?
2. What lessons has he or she learned?
3. What is the central conflict in the work?
4. What is the subject of the work?
5. What does the author say about the subject?
6. Can this idea be supported entirely by evidence from the work itself?
7. Are all the author's choices of plot, character, conflict, and tone controlled by this idea?
Step 2: Determine themes or important ideas that are raised by the text.
(hint: a theme is a something we can learn about the 'human condition' from the text)
Example theme: a good leader does not abuse his/her power
Example idea: Fate
Step 3: State how the theme or idea is evident in the text (this is your thesis).
You need to develop you own thesis for Macbeth, but below is an example from another text:
Example from All Quiet on the Western Front
Step 1: (ask questions) What can we learn from the characters?
Step 2: (determine a theme or idea) War is dehumanizing. - a theme
Step3: (state your thesis) Through Paul’s experience behind the lines, at a Russian prisoner of war camp, and especially under bombardment in the trenches, Erich Maria Remarque realistically shows how war dehumanizes a man.
Question:
What does the author say about Macbeth?
Thesis:
Although Macbeth appears to be a merciless killer, deep within, he has the heart of a credulous coward.
Major Points:
1. When Macbeth is uncertain as to whether or not the murder of King Duncan will be carried out successfully and reward him plenty, Lady Macbeth easily manipulates Macbeth by ridiculing him of his tenacity and shaky will that a typical woman often possesses.
Textual Evidence: Act I, scene 7, lines 1-28
2. When the ghost of Banquo appears, Macbeth is shocked in disbelief. Although he appeared to have pronounced the death sentence of his close companion without any hesitation, seeing the hollow apparition of his friend Banquo greatly unsettles him.
Textual Evidence: Act 3, scene 4
3. When Macbeth comes to realize that Macduff was forcefully taken out of his mother's womb through the splitting of her abdomen, he immediately admits his defeat without question, blindly believing the witches' prophesy.
Step 1: To generate a few ideas for your paper, ask questions about the text:
1. How has the main character changed?
2. What lessons has he or she learned?
3. What is the central conflict in the work?
4. What is the subject of the work?
5. What does the author say about the subject?
6. Can this idea be supported entirely by evidence from the work itself?
7. Are all the author's choices of plot, character, conflict, and tone controlled by this idea?
Step 2: Determine themes or important ideas that are raised by the text.
(hint: a theme is a something we can learn about the 'human condition' from the text)
Example theme: a good leader does not abuse his/her power
Example idea: Fate
Step 3: State how the theme or idea is evident in the text (this is your thesis).
You need to develop you own thesis for Macbeth, but below is an example from another text:
Example from All Quiet on the Western Front
Step 1: (ask questions) What can we learn from the characters?
Step 2: (determine a theme or idea) War is dehumanizing. - a theme
Step3: (state your thesis) Through Paul’s experience behind the lines, at a Russian prisoner of war camp, and especially under bombardment in the trenches, Erich Maria Remarque realistically shows how war dehumanizes a man.
Question:
What does the author say about Macbeth?
Thesis:
Although Macbeth appears to be a merciless killer, deep within, he has the heart of a credulous coward.
Major Points:
1. When Macbeth is uncertain as to whether or not the murder of King Duncan will be carried out successfully and reward him plenty, Lady Macbeth easily manipulates Macbeth by ridiculing him of his tenacity and shaky will that a typical woman often possesses.
Textual Evidence: Act I, scene 7, lines 1-28
2. When the ghost of Banquo appears, Macbeth is shocked in disbelief. Although he appeared to have pronounced the death sentence of his close companion without any hesitation, seeing the hollow apparition of his friend Banquo greatly unsettles him.
Textual Evidence: Act 3, scene 4
3. When Macbeth comes to realize that Macduff was forcefully taken out of his mother's womb through the splitting of her abdomen, he immediately admits his defeat without question, blindly believing the witches' prophesy.
Textual Evidence: Act 5, scene 8